Trump threatens Supreme Court fight with Democrats over impeachment

US President Donald Trump said he’ll go directly to the US Supreme Court “if the partisan Dems” ever try to impeach him.

But Mr Trump’s strategy could run into a roadblock: the high court itself, which said in 1993 that the framers of the US Constitution didn’t intend for the courts to have the power to review impeachment proceedings.
 

The Supreme Court ruled that impeachment and removal from office is Congress’ duty alone. “I DID NOTHING WRONG,” Mr Trump tweeted.

He said not only are there no “High Crimes and Misdemeanours,” one of the bases for impeachment outlined in the Constitution, “there are no Crimes by me at all.”

He alleged Democrats committed crimes and said they’re looking “to Congress as last hope!” because “We waited for Mueller and WON.”

That was a reference to special counsel Robert Mueller’s report into Russian meddling in the 2016 election.
 

The Mueller report did not establish a criminal conspiracy between Mr Trump’s campaign and Russia to influence the 2016 presidential election but revealed that Mr Trump tried to seize control of the Russia investigation.

In the report, released last week, Mr Mueller laid out multiple episodes in which Mr Trump directed other people to influence or curtail the investigation after the special counsel’s 2017 appointment, but he said those efforts “were mostly unsuccessful,” largely because “the persons who surrounded the President declined to carry out orders or accede to his requests.” Mr Trump’s threat to “head to the US Supreme Court” would seem to face an uphill battle.
 

The Mueller Report, despite being written by Angry Democrats and Trump Haters, and with unlimited money behind it ($35,000,000), didn’t lay a glove on me. I DID NOTHING WRONG. If the partisan Dems ever tried to Impeach, I would first head to the U.S. Supreme Court. Not only......

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 24, 2019

.....are there no “High Crimes and Misdemeanors,” there are no Crimes by me at all. All of the Crimes were committed by Crooked Hillary, the Dems, the DNC and Dirty Cops - and we caught them in the act! We waited for Mueller and WON, so now the Dems look to Congress as last hope!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 24, 2019

No Collusion, No Obstruction - there has NEVER been a President who has been more transparent. Millions of pages of documents were given to the Mueller Angry Dems, plus I allowed everyone to testify, including W.H. counsel. I didn’t have to do this, but now they want more.....

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 24, 2019

....Congress has no time to legislate, they only want to continue the Witch Hunt, which I have already won. They should start looking at The Criminals who are already very well known to all. This was a Rigged System - WE WILL DRAIN THE SWAMP!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) April 24, 2019

In his 1993 opinion, Chief Justice William Rehnquist wrote that a federal judge’s appeal of his impeachment was not reviewable by courts.

He said the framers of the Constitution “did not intend for the courts to have the power to review impeachment proceedings.”

If the courts were allowed to review impeachments, Mr Rehnquist wrote, it could plunge the country into “months, or perhaps years, of chaos.”
 

Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler, who subpoenaed former White House counsel Don McGahn, said this week in a statement that Mr Mueller’s report, even in redacted form, “outlines substantial evidence that President Trump engaged in obstruction and other abuses.” But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has urged divided Democrats to focus on fact-finding rather than the prospect of any impeachment proceedings after the damning details of Mr Mueller’s report.